BankCo, one of the leading fintech companies globally, went from incredible local success to challenges in its first two international markets, with the absence of a cohesive structure for how to approach global growth. Global Class supported the CEO and executive team in evaluating and selecting the right markets to expand into, driving the implementation of a structured approach to manage localization in new markets, and supporting the creation and scaling of a team dedicated to global expansion. The result: a 61% increase in stock price and implementation of a strategy enabling the company to launch in 8 new global markets.

The Situation

BankCo had been incredibly successful in its home market, disrupting the traditional banking industry and acquiring millions of satisfied customers, routinely earning Net Promoter Scores that far exceeded the competition. The company’s first forays into international markets, however, encountered many challenges. In each of the first two international markets, company leadership took vastly different approaches, with one market more closely managed by team members from headquarters, while the other local team was staffed with local talent teams who were given high autonomy to localize for the market. Local teams did not have the institutional knowledge to get corporate to adapt the business to fit the local market and changes to the business model were reactive, leading to wasted time and money - and ultimately a low ROI on resources dedicated to international markets.

The result was three vastly different businesses in the three counties the company operated in, run on customized platforms. Company leadership realized that this type of strategy bred complexity and wouldn’t help BankCo successfully scale globally. This led to a period of analysis-paralysis where the executive team was unable to come to a decision on the next markets to enter.

After working with a top brand name management consulting firm to complete an organizational restructuring, BankCo’s CEO engaged Global Class to identify key risks and assist the company with market analysis/selection and localization planning.

Our Approach

Instead of focusing on success in the next market, BankCo needed to focus on determining the right sequence of markets to enter, scaling localizations to multiple markets concurrently and building the muscle for repeated success in multiple international markets.

Using its proprietary Global Growth Opportunity Matrix (G-GO Matrix), the Global Class team worked with the CEO and members of the C-Suite to determine the right markets to enter, to scope out localizations for each market, and to grow BankCo’s international expansion team to support the initiative.

The G-GO Matrix process not only helped BankCo determine the attractiveness of each market, but also how the company’s go-to-market and operational models would need to change to succeed in each new target market. Finally, Global Class helped uncover organizational misalignment and gaps, supporting the company in implementing processes and structures to accelerate localizations and traction in new markets.

Global Class also took an educational approach, coaching executives and key team members on the best practices the world’s fastest-growing companies utilized to achieve global scale; ultimately teaching the team the right approach to analysis, planning and launching to more rapidly reach product-market fit in international markets.

Bridging Recommendations and Implementation

Global Class took its recommendations for how BankCo’s leadership team could overcome apprehension around market selection/launch planning, and helped the company implement Global Class’ comprehensive Localization Premium® Analysis system, training the newly built international expansion team on how to approach market analysis, selection, localization planning and playbook creation. Additionally, Global Class worked with company leadership to create a cross-functional team to establish stronger feedback loops with local markets and better facilitate rapid localization across the company’s growing global footprint.

The Results

Since Global Class’ involvement, BankCo has made incredible strides in its global growth, fostering internal alignment, confidently making key decisions, and moving forward more rapidly with international expansion. Key results include:

• BankCo’s stock price increased 61% in less than one year from when the CEO engaged Global Class
• Growth in new markets (international expansion) went from being a lower priority growth driver, to the most important engine for company growth
• BankCo went from not having a formal international expansion team to now building out a 13 people team supporting global growth initiatives 

*We take our clients’ confidentiality seriously. While the names have been changed, the results are real.